Nick woke up the next morning and reached out his arms only to find that Jess' bed was missing her in it with him. He frowned wondering where she went, after all she was off work for the summer so surely they could afford an extra few hours in bed. He sits up and runs his hand through his messy bed head hair. Then he hears her door click open - it's her, it's Jess.
"Hey sailor" she said in a low sultry voice as she leaned her back against the door until she heard it click shut. She is wearing his favourite flannel shirt which drowns her tiny frame. She had lazily buttoned up the front with three buttons so her modesty was only just maintained and Nick could clearly see the only item of clothing underneath his shirt was a pair of black panties.
"Mornin' Jessica" his voice laced with a thick Chicago accent.
"Why good afternoon, Nicholas" she was doing her best to sound like a character of Downtown Abbey. "Would you care to escort me to the dining room for lunch? I must say I am famished." she said flashing him a wicked smile.
"Sure thing doll" he replied playing along, yet not quite mastering the accent, "but I am currently struggling to find my items of clothing."
"Oh my" Jess said in mock horror "we cannot have that, here kind Sir, take my robe" she reached down to the foot of the bed and picked up her pale pink robe, the one which Nick had referred to as his catnip.
"No way Jessica" he said breaking character.
"Yes way Miller. It's not fair that the girl always has to do the walk of shame and never the guy"
"And how is that MY fault?"
"PLEASE?" Jess said, her eyes big like a puppy.
"IF I say yes - which I am not saying I will, what's in it for me?"
Jess stood there with a thoughtful expression, wondering what would be tempting enough to convince Nick Miller to go through with this.
"Aha!" she shouted with a victorious look on her face "how about IF you wear it out there", she said as she pointed to her bedroom door, "then I will let you do what we discussed last night"
Nick was taken aback by this suddenly bold statement. He could already feel certain parts of his body begin to expand with the mere thought of having oral sex with Jess Day.
"And if I don't?" he managed to choke out.
"Then I get to do what I want" she stated simply.
"Hey no fair, I would at least like to know what I'm letting myself in for here"
"Take it or leave it Miller"
Nick slowly nodded his head in defeat. His door may have been less than ten steps away from his current position but no way was he about to cross the hallway nude. After all Schmidt still wanted to see his penis for whatever strange reason.
"Fine" he huffed out, "I'll do it"
Jess squealed and handed him her robe. Nick reluctantly took it from her and put it on and tied the waistband. The fabric was stretched tightly against his muscular arms and he felt more than exposed. Also it was hard to hide his ever expanding private parts with such thin material.
"After you" Jess said somewhat triumphantly.
Nick walked out of her room and into the common living area of the loft, Jess following closely behind. To both of their surprise Schmidt was sitting on the bar stool nearest his room, slumped over the counter top of the island, a glum and defeated look on his face. Nick approached him with caution not knowing what mood he was in and was careful with his choice of words.
"Hey man, haven't seen ya in a while. Where you been?" Nick said.
"Oh you know, around" Schmidt replied, not making any attempt to look at Nick. Nick hated when his friend talked in riddles.
"Well, glad you're back buddy" Nick moved closer to give his best friend an affectionate shoulder pat (if such a thing exists).
Schmidt had not been paying attention to his surroundings, but hearing Jess fidgeting behind Nick he looked up.
"WHAT. THE. HELL." and the old Schmidt resurfaced.
"Chill Schmidt, it is far too early for me to listen to your crap." Nick replied rather calmly.
"I will have you know, Nicholas, that I currently find myself in quite the predicament and I would appreciate you not rubbing it in my face seeing as you are currently getting laid every night"
"Hey!" Jess cut in, not liking where this conversation seemed to be headed, "I am standing right here Schmidt! Look I know you don't want to have to chose between Cece and Elizabeth and I know it must be hard but it's not our fault"
Nick's heart warmed at how Jess had so quickly jumped to his defense.
It was Nick's turn to speak, "If you think men should not wear this in public, then how come you get to wear that kimono crap?"
"I will have you know, Nick Miller, my kimono is a traditional piece of clothing and is my leisure wear which I as a hard working American citizen is entitled to. Do not compare my kimono to your girlfriends robe, they do not deserve to even be put in the same sentence!" Schmidt was obviously projecting his feelings onto Nick, glad for a distraction from having to chose between two women.
"C'mon guys" Jess said trying to lighten the mood, "I'll make breakfast." Jess went into the kitchen, noting the pile of dirty dishes, clearing a space and began making a full fry for everyone.
They all sat around the island, Winston had managed to stumble his way into the kitchen, the smell of bacon enticing him. When they had all finished they added the dirty dishes to the ever growing pile, none of them really in the mood to clean up. At times like this the loft-mates missed Schmidt being his old self. Jess sat at the counter beside Schmidt holding her mug of green tea. Winston headed back to his room and Nick headed off to get showered and dressed.
"Hey Jess" Schmidt said rather quietly "Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean what I said, I know you aren't rubbing it in my face"
"It's fine Schmidt, honestly. I feel like I am on a high right now so not even you can annoy me."
After a moment of silence he spoke again, this time his voice was just above a whisper, "Who do you think I should choose?"
"Well...um...I don't think that's for me to say."
"No, really Jess. I can't decide...I mean how do you decide between two amazing women? And no-one knows Cecelia better than yourself"
"I don't know, I guess just go with your first instinct. As Cece's best friend I don't want to get involved and sound bias."
"So you think I should choose Cece?"
"Well as much as I love this new version of you...I mean old version of you, I don't think you should have to change who you are to please Elizabeth. Cece accepts you as you are, an up-tight, OCD, Douche-bag, who is also really sweet."
"Wait...what was that last part, can you repeat that?"
Jess smacked him rather hard on the arm. "Just makeup your mind soon, they are not going to wait around much longer."
"Thanks Jess, because of that I now give you my blessing"
"Thanks, I guess?" she said sounding rather confused but also happy that Nick's best friend was warming to the thought of her and Nick being together.
"So how is it really, with Nick? You can tell me"
"It's good I guess. We are going away for the weekend so hopefully we have time to talk"
Schmidt just nodded knowing exactly what she meant. At that moment Nick emerged from the bathroom and Jess took that as her cue to leave and go get ready. She walked down the hallway, turning back to look at Schmidt who was now deep in thought.
"Hey Schmidt, good luck" she said with a weak smile, knowing the inner turmoil he was going through. He lifted a hand to wave her off as if code for I will be alright eventually.
Jess headed for the shower and started to get ready to head over to Cece's place.
Please review. I am still not completely happy with this chapter but hopefully it's not a total disaster :)